Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were four points lower in screen trade.

The Australian market was higher on gains in the resources and banking sectors, but buyers were tentative ahead of the release of a review of the country's tax system.

The government is expected to release a comprehensive review of the country's tax system, conducted by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, on Sunday.

"We have significantly underperformed Wall Street this week," said IG Markets strategist Ben Potter. "It's all speculation (about the Henry Tax Review) at this point, but markets hate uncertainty and when people bandy around such big changes as a 40% tax on resources, it causes some concern."

Macquarie stood out with a 3.1% rise after its fiscal year profit of A$1.05 billion beat market expectations by about 3.0%, and chief executive Nick Moore said he expects further improvement in the current fiscal year.

Woolworths lost 1.7% after lowering its fiscal year sales growth forecast to 3%-6% from upper-single-digit growth it previously expected.

The Korean market was higher with financial stocks recouping most of this week's losses. KB Financial advanced 2.4% and Woori Finance rose 2.5% ahead of its first-quarter results later in the day.

Major exporters were also higher, with Kia Motors rising 1.9% and Samsung Electronics adding 1.8% after it reported first-quarter net profit grew more than six-fold from a year earlier, largely thanks to brisk sales of chips and flat panels.

Exporters were leading gains in the Japanese market though many investors were cautious ahead of Japan's Golden Week holidays. Tokyo markets will be shut on Monday and reopen on Thursday next week.

Sharp Corp. rose 1.0%, Canon added 2.4% and Toyota Motor rose 1.2%.

Japan Tobacco rose 4.8% after late Wednesday saying it will raise prices for tobacco products sold in Japan, effective Oct. 1. The company also reported a Y31.5 billion net profit for the January-March quarter, from a year-earlier loss of Y8.0 billion.

New Zealand shares were up modestly, supported by continued interest in Fisher & Paykel Appliances, which rose 1.6%. "Fisher and Paykel Appliances has increased on fairly positive news from Whirlpool that demand is on the increase," said Hamilton Hindin Greene broker Adrian Vance. Whirlpool reported strong first-quarter earnings earlier in the week.

Trading was fairly mixed across the rest of the market, with Air New Zealand tacking on 0.7% and Fletcher Building losing 0.5%.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro maintained Thursday's modest recovery spurred by expectations eurozone officials will have a final bailout plan for Greece ready within days. The single currency was fetching $1.3255 against the U.S. dollar, up from $1.3238 late in New York Thursday, and was at Y124.65 against the yen compared with Y124.53. The dollar was buying Y93.99 from Y94.07.

Some remained skeptical about the euro's bounce. "Markets are looking for a bigger Greek aid package over the weekend, which may give the euro a further boost Friday as an overly short-euro market squares up ahead of announcement risk," said Brown Brothers Harriman analysts in a note to clients. "But we would view any such pop as an opportunity to go short euros again. Indeed, we may see a buy the rumor, sell the fact at the start of next week," the analysts added.

ANZ bank senior economist Khoon Goh said the euro's rebound on Thursday lacked the hallmarks of a genuine short-covering rally: "This suggests a lot of trepidation still towards the euro and many market participants are still happy to maintain their short positions."

Japanese government bonds were lower on the Nikkei's gains and easing worries over Greece. The lead June JGB futures contract was down 0.03 at 139.72 points, and the 10-year cash JGB yield was unchanged at 1.285%.

Spot gold was at $1,171.90 per troy ounce, up $4.70 from New York trade Thursday. June Nymex crude oil futures were up 44 cents at $85.61 per barrel on Globex.

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